Dio - A Decade Of Dio: 1983-1993 [Box Set] (2016)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal

Label - Warner Bros.

Track listing:

Disc 1/6 (Holy Diver)

01. Stand Up and Shout 3:18
02. Holy Diver 5:54
03. Gypsy 3:40
04. Caught In The Middle 4:17
05. Don't Talk To Strangers 4:54
06. Straight Through The Heart 4:35
07. Invisible 5:26
08. Rainbow In The Dark 4:14
09. Shame On The Night 5:19

Disc 2/6 (Last In Line)

01. We Rock 4:34
02. The Last In Line 5:46
03. Breathless 4:08
04. I Speed At Night 3:22
05. One Night In The City 5:15
06. Evil Eyes 3:38
07. Mystery 3:55
08. Ear Your Heart Out 3:53
09. Egypt (The Chains Are On) 6:58

Disc 3/6 (Sacred Heart)

01. King Of Rock And Roll 3:45
02. Sacred Heart 6:24
03. Another Lie 3:50
04. Rock 'N' Roll Children 4:33
05. Hungry For Heaven 4:09
06. Like The Beat of A Heart 4:17
07. Just Another Day 3:23
08. Fallen Angels 3:52
09. Shoot Shoot 4:17

Disc 4/6 (Dream Evil)

01. Night People 4:06
02. Dream Evil 4:22
03. Sunset Superman 5:46
04. All The Fools Sailed Away 7:11
05. Naked In The Rain 5:10
06. Overlove 3:47
07. I Could Have Been A Dreamer 4:41
08. Faces In The Window 3:51
09. When A Woman Cries 4:34

Disc 5/6 (Lock Up The Wolves)

01. Wild One 4:05
02. Born On The Sun 5:36
03. Hey Angel 4:58
04. Between Two Hearts 6:30
05. Night Music 5:08
06. Lock Up The Wolves 8:32
07. Evil On Queen Street 6:03
08. Walk On Water 3:44
09. Twisted 4:45
10. Why Are They Watching Me 5:02
11. My Eyes 6:38

Disc 6/6 (Strange Highways)

01. Jesus, Mary & The Holy Ghost 4:11
02. Firehead 4:06
03. Strange Highways 6:51
04. Hollywood Black 5:08
05. Evilution 5:35
06. Pain 4:11
07. One Foot In The Grave 4:01
08. Give Her The Gun 5:59
09. Blood From A Stone 4:14
10. Here's To You 3:25
11. Bring Down The Rain 5:40

Warner Bros have released a fantastic 6CD Boxset featuring the re-mastered first 6 albums from heavy metal and hard rock legends. Now there has been already recent re-masters on these essential albums, deluxe editions with extra material, SHM-CD, etc, but believe me, this "A Decade of DIO 1983-1993 Boxset" is the definitive collection when it comes to sound quality. The re-mastering is superb, adding a little more punch but preserving the 'original feel' as it should be on every re-mastering job. Ronnie's voice sounds crystal clear, and if any tinkering has been done to the original mix, then maybe the vocals have been raised ever so slightly, but what the hey these albums sound fantastic, especially the first three, Holy Diver through Sacred Heart.

this set is well worth getting a hold of, if just to simply up-grade the sound quality of the original releases. The only negative is that there are no bonus tracks, I mean it would have been nice for Time To Burn or Hide In The Rainbow to have been added to the collection, and maybe some unreleased out-takes, but what the hey.

Check it out!

Rating - 9/10

WAMI (White Appice Mendoza Iggy) - Kill The King (2014)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy metal

Label - Metal Mind Productions 

Track listing:

01. The Rider

02. Young Blood

03. One More For Rock'n'roll

04. Guardian Of Your Heart

05. Transition

06. The Resistance

07. Exodus (The Red Sea Crossing)

08. Heart Of Steel

09. Wild Woman (You Oughta Know)

10. Get Out Of My Way

11. I Don't Wanna Lose You

WAMI are a brand new super-group featuring the talents of vocalist Doogie White (Rainbow, Schenker, Yngwie, La Paz), drummer Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath, DIO) and bassist Marco Mendoza (Black Star Riders, Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake) alongside 16-year-old Polish guitarist Iggy Gwadera, who are releasing their debut CD "Kill The King" today, May 13.
The whole idea for this project was started by Marco Mendoza two years ago. Performing in Poland, Thin Lizzy was supported at that time by the metal act Anti Tank Nun – and, as it seems, the extraordinary talent of the support act’s guitarist, Iggy Gwadera, left Mendoza enchanted.
The collaboration between the two followed and soon it evolved into a full star-studded project, involving Mendoza and Gwadera as well as shouter Doogie White and monster drummer Vinny Appice.
To make a perfect heavy metal fairy tale out of it, it should be added that the impressive Gwadera is only 16 now, the fact that can really restore one’s faith in the late ‘90s “generation Z” as they call it.
Of course, the fairy tale wouldn't be complete without the input of the Fairy Godmother(s), or, in this case, the producers’ team. Here we go as follows: Jarek ‘Chilek’ Chilkiewicz (a well-known Polish guitar player) as well as the album’s composers Wojtek and Piotr Cugowski (the two talented sons of Polish classic rock legend Krzysztof Cugowski who followed their father’s footsteps artistically).
The result of this multi-dimensional collaboration is "Kill The King".
Enough of the background – let the music do the talking.
WAMI’s first release is perfect balance between hard rock versus traditional metal, classic roots versus contemporary sound, aggressiveness versus melody.
“The Rider” is the dynamic opener featuring the dazzling guitar gallop, followed by the powerful, upbeat mid-tempo “Young Blood” where stellar vocal harmonies complement the melodious main riff.
The next song is a bit self-introductory, as White sings 'we are rock’n’roll believers' in his raspy but strong voice; it’s “One More For Rock’n’Roll”, a number with a Black Sabbath trademark style and psychedelic flavors.
Fourth track is the absolute highlight – the ballad “Guardian of Your Heart”, where Doogie White shares lead vocals with the above Piotr Cugowski. A result of their collaboration behind the microphone is the brilliant, emotionally laden performance, and the surprisingly perfect match of these two voices brings the song to a whole new level.
“Transition” is pretty heavy and straight-in-your-face with a bouncy rhythm, which precedes the mellow intro to “The Resistance”, but that's only seconds before the track evolves into a metallic killer stomper with muscular gun-machine riffs and feisty, aggressive vocals – but at the same time, still melodic. Interestingly enough, this song’s outro is an obvious reference to White’s Scottish heritage – check it out and you’ll have it loud and clear.
“Exodus (The Red Sea Crossing)” is driven with a slow, lumbering, early eighties metal British-esque atmosphere. Its follow-up “Heart Of Steel” is a groovy but melodic hard rock piece, driven by quite modern riff.
Some bluesy hard rock overtones are to be distinguished in “Wild Woman (You Oughta Know)”, a feisty and groovy hard rock piece (think early Whitesnake), in a contrast with “Get Out Of My Way” which develops into a fast-paced, dynamic hard rocker with aggressive dialogue between the lead and backing vocals.
The final cut “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” is a soaring acoustic ballad with cello part played by the guest musician Dorota Wozniak-Mocarska and a perfect melody to finalize the CD.
"Kill The King" above all, proves one undisputed fact – this international, intergenerational hard rock WAMI project really works. And even more, the sensational artistic collaboration between a group of talented Polish musicians and the three hard rock legends would be seriously unappreciated if referred to only as a curiosity in Appice’s or White’s vast discographies.
It’s so because of many reasons – not only the predictable quality of the performance by the legendary musicians of Rainbow, Dio or Whitesnake fame, but also well-crafted compositions penned by the creative duo of Cugowski brothers.
The true scene stealer is, however, guitarist Iggy Gwadera – being not even old enough to vote and still, capable of meeting such a challenge. His talent and prowess, surprising at such young age, really shines through the entire album, and it’s almost certain we’ll hear about this gifted young man in the future – perhaps mentioned again alongside big names of the music industry.
Let’s also hope Kill The King won’t be the last album under the WAMI moniker – although with the bar set so high with the first one, it’ll be hard to top it.
Strongly Recommended.

Rating - 8/10

Full Line Up - 

Doogie White - vocals

Vinny Appice - drums

Marco Mendoza - bass

Iggy Gwadera - guitars

Additional musicians:

Jarek ‘Chilek’ Chilkiewicz – additional electric & acoustic guitars

Wojtek Cugowski – add. electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals

Piotr Cugowski – guest lead vocals (track 4), backing vocals

Tomasz Golab – bass (track 5)

Szymek Synowka – drums (track 9)

Marek Trojanowicz – all keyboards

Dorota Wozniak-Mocarska – cello (track 11)

Eliza Cugowska, Krystyna Cugowska & Ewa Chilkiewicz – backing vocals

thanks to Alexandra Mrozowska

Adrenaline Mob - Coverta EP (2013)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Classic Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01 - TNT (ACDC)
02 - Stand Up And Shout (DIO)
03 - Break On Through (The Doors)
04 - Romeo Delight (Van Halen)
05 - Barracuda (Heart)
06 - Kill The King (Rainbow)
07 - The Lemon Song (Led Zepplin)
08 - Mob Rules (Black Sabbath)


Adrenaline Mob return with what in all honesty can only be a stop gap covers album / EP. With Coverta they tackle eight varied all time classic from the likes of ACDC, Rainbow, Heart, Black Sabbath, Dio, The Doors, Led Zepplin and Van Halen. Interesting mix hey? Well interesting but these guys pull them off perfectly, and as varied as they are they sit together here just as though they were written specifically for this release.
Russ Allen pulls of the vocals perfectly and axemen Rich Ward and Mike Orlando do admirable jobs playing the riffs of such messers as Richie Blackmore, Tony Iommi, Agnus Young, Eddie Van Halen  and Jimmy Page.
Although this can only be a stop gap until the bands next studio release its well worth checking out just to hear how well they pull these classic off!

Highly reconmended!

Rating 9/10

Jorn - Bring heavy Rock To The Land (2012)

Genre - Hard Rock / Heavy Metal / Classic Rock
Label -

Track listing -

01. My Road
02. Bring Heavy Rock To The Land
03. A Thousand Cuts
04. Ride Like The Wind
05. Chains Around You
06. The World I See
07. Time To Be King
08. Ride To The Guns
09. Black Morning
10. I Came To Rock
11. Live And Let Fly (Bonus Track)


Jorn Lande returns with his latest studio album, the first since 2010's tribute to the late great Ronnie James Dio, Dio with Bring Heavy Rock To the Land. (Although 2011 saw the release of the stunning live package, Live In Black!)
No one, and I mean NO ONE can afult Jorn's vocals, with a voice that is the perfect cross of Ronnie Dio's and David Coverdales, this man was born to sing rock! And thats just what he does on this album, eleven tracks of pure (and might I say brilliant) classic hard rock and metal. Sure the lyrics are occassionally cliche'd, but hey so are the lyrics of some of the best rock anthems to have ever been recorded, thats one of the things that makes great hard rock songs!
Msically every song is amazing, the production is really top notch, and Jorn's voice seems to be in fine form.
After a couple of listens I have alreader found a few new Jorn classics, Ride To The Guns, Chains Around You, Ride Like The Wind, Black morning and I Came To Rock are all anthems in the making.
If you are a fan of Jorn's previous releases, then you are surely going to love this album, and if you are a fan of great traditional hard rock music, then check this album out, you wont be disappointed.
So with this album Jorn really does "Bring Hard Rock To The Land".


Rating - 9/10

Jorn - Dio

With the sad passing of a legend like Ronnie James Dio I guess it is inevitable the we'll get a flood of tribute albums, starting with this one by Jorn Lande, and to be honest, this is going to take some beating.

Opening with the only original track on the album, 'Song For Ronnie James', Jorn manages to set the perfect tone, with the aforementioned song being finely crafted very much in the Dio vein, and it fits well amongst the other 12 Dio classics.
The really smart thing here is that Jorn has not gone for the obvious song choices, instead choosing some of the more obscure album tracks.
'Invisible' follows 'Song For Ronnie James', with Jorn staying faithful to the original in both the arrangement and feel of the song. Jorn Lande's voice lends itself well to the songs too, with his Dio mixed with Coverdale vibe. An absolutely brilliant version of 'Shame On The Night' follows, and I have to say, I may even prefer this to the original!
'Push', originally from Killing The Dragon is up next, followed by a rawking version of 'Stand Up And Shout' A great version of the Dio classic 'Dint Talk To Strangers' is up next, again with Jorn putting in a stunning performance. 'Lord Of The Last Day', 'Night People' and 'Sacred Heart' follows before we get to possibly the albums highlight, 'Sunset Superman'. Here n and the guys really do find the heart and soul of the song, absolutely stunning!
A short Black Sabbath medley is up next, with Jorn managing to combine 'Lonely Is The Word', with 'Letters From earth' and the ending of 'Sign Of The Southern Cross', and by god, it works really well.
Next up is a breath taking version of Rainbows 'Kill The King', before the album closes out a live version of 'Straight Through The Heart'.

If ever Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler are considering a tribute concert of some kind for the late Ronnie James Dio then they simply have to ensure Jorn is involved in some way!
This is the very first tribute album for Dio, and will probably remain the best for some years to come!

website - http://www.myspace.com/realjorn
rating 10/10